In the real world of football that serves as the feeding ground
for the hobby of fantasy football, quarterback is the most valuable
position on the field. Few teams go far in the NFL playoffs without
a signal caller that is amongst the elite at that position. And
yet, for fantasy purposes, quarterbacks are often thought of as
the third most valuable position behind running backs and wide
receivers. In some cases, a general manager might even see getting
an elite tight end as more important than obtaining a top-tier
quarterback. Isn’t the purpose of fantasy football, though,
to replicate real-world value? Shouldn’t getting a quarterback
like Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, or Drew Brees be considered
the ultimate catch? Perhaps. The reality of the situation is every
league gets to decide how valuable quarterbacks are going to be.
For those who wish to make it as important as it is in the real
world NFL, here are some suggestions:

Six Points per Touchdown pass

The number of points assigned to a touchdown pass has varied over
the years. When I first starting playing fantasy football (Ronald
Reagan was the president back then), the debate was whether to
credit a touchdown pass with three points or six. Then, somewhere
along the line, four points for a touchdown pass became the norm.
This despite the fact that RBs, WRs and TEs have always received
six points for their journeys across the goal line --even if the
score came on a simple one-yard plunge following a pass interference
call in the end zone. Two points per touchdown doesn’t seem
like much of an upgrade, but consider this: Peyton Manning had
55 touchdown passes last year. If you assign six points per touchdown
pass using that number, you generate an additional 110 fantasy
points. He was the MVP of the NFL. That upgrade would make him
the MVP of all fantasy leagues, as well. Replication of value.
And, it would create more separation between Manning and quarterbacks
like Tony Romo, Matthew Stafford and Matt Ryan, given that they
only had 31, 29 and 26 TD passes, respectively. Fantasy general
managers would pay much closer attention to quarterback numbers
rather than just considering it the deepest position and pre-determining
a mid-round draft selection for a starter.

Obtainable Yardage Bonuses

Another way to enhance the fantasy value of the quarterback position
is to grant bonus points for certain yardage milestones. For example,
five bonus points for 300-plus yards thrown -- or even 10 bonus
points for 400-plus yards thrown. Using those milestones, look
how the value of each of the following quarterbacks would increase
using their 2013 performances:

In addition, guys like Stafford, Ben Roethlisberger and Ryan hit
at least seven bonus milestones. Now, yardage milestones also
can be used for the other offensive skill positions, but generally
speaking, players at those positions don’t eclipse the milestones
nearly as much as quarterbacks do. For example, if you set your
yardage milestone at five bonus points for 120-plus rushing or
receiving yards and 10 bonus points for 200-plus yards, only five
players would have benefited for 25 additional points or more
in 2013, meaning they achieved those milestones five times or
more. Those players would have been Josh Gordon (nine times),
LeSean McCoy (six times), and Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson,
and Andre Johnson (five times apiece). Twelve quarterbacks (some
already noted) reached the previously mentioned yardage bonus
milestones five times or more. So, this is something to try, and
if it is decided that it turns the quarterback position into something
more valuable than you ultimately wish it to be, you can always
adjust either the milestones for passing yards (go to 350 yards
for the first bonus, for example) or for rushing and receiving
yards (go to 100 yards for the first bonus).

Points for Efficiency

If the goal we’re aiming for is truly to replicate the real-world
value of the NFL quarterback, yardage totals aren’t always
the ticket. For example, check out the numbers that quarterbacks
like Robert Griffin III and Matthew Stafford put up in “garbage
time” the past couple of seasons. Does piling up huge yardage
numbers when you’re down by two touchdowns or more really
make you a top-tier NFL quarterback? No. Most would agree it doesn’t.
So, why should it make you a stud quarterback on the fantasy playing
field? A solid argument would be this is simply a logistical issue,
as yardage is so much easier to assign value to than other quarterback
measures, and some host sites don’t allow for much variance
with respect to measuring a quarterback’s value. But, that
landscape is changing. Consider this: One of the top league hosting
websites on the market today allows you to assign fantasy points
for: Pass Completions, Pass Completion Percentage, and Passer
Rating . Putting those numbers into play would have made guys
like Troy Aikman much more valuable in the past as it could be
argued they should have been given their impact on the real world
game of football. Russell Wilson might be the modern-day equivalent
of Aikman. Wilson is on a team that wins primarily via running
the ball and playing outstanding defense, but the team is also
great because of his efficiency. In 2014, we have the means of
rewarding that trait in addition to simply allowing the “garbage
time” quarterbacks to swallow up so much value.

Conclusions

Here’s the thing: I’m not suggesting that leagues
that don’t try to replicate the real-world value of a quarterback
are missing out. The list of quarterbacks that can score you 20
points a game or more is quite a bit longer than the list of guys
who can produce a dozen points rushing the ball, and that alone
will almost certainly make running back the greater position of
value no matter how you decide to alter the value of the quarterback
position. What I am suggesting is there’s tremendous freedom
with respect to value assignment available in 2014, and it’s
definitely worth consideration. If the NFL were to wipe the slates
of each team clean and start from scratch with each team choosing
players in a serpentine fashion, how many quarterbacks would go
in the top 24 picks? How many running backs? We all know the answer.
Quarterbacks would be scooped up like candy thrown to children
at a Christmas parade.

It’s something to consider as you examine your league’s
scoring system for this year and years to come.